ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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The fourth James Bond movie had a tough act to follow ("Goldfinger"), and it suffers a bit by comparison.

"Goldfinger" has more girls, more gadgets, and a fat, nasty villian who deserved to be sucked out of an airplane window.

"Thunderball" has Adolfo Celi as the villian, Luciana Paluzzi as his henchwoman, and Claudine Auger as Luciana's rival for Bond's coveted body. In fact, "Thunderball" has so many characters with Italian accents it ends up sounding like a English-dubbed film.

Adolfo Celi hi-jacks a NATO bomber, steals its nuclear weapons, and threatens to blow up several major cities if he doesn't receive a ransom.

Much of the action takes place underwater; Bond battles scuba diving bad guys, dodges hungry sharks, and makes underwater love to Miss Auger.

Bond's newest gadget for this movie is a jet-propelled back pack for his scuba tanks — a desperate effort on the part of the film makers to get somebody moving fast during the sodden climatic battle.

The biggest mistake "Thunderball" made was setting so much of the action underwater — especially the climax. Legions of soldiers in wet suits who desperately fight each other in slow motion are about as exciting to watch as time lapse photography of blooming flowers!

Oddly enough, Bond's final fight with the villain on a hydrofoil yacht includes too much footage that was crudely sped up!

Even with its faults, "Thunderball" is still a fun, skillfully directed movie by Terence Young. Sean Connery always delivers a classy performance. Martine Beswick ("One Million Years B.C.", "Prehistoric Women") plays a secret agent who assists Bond in Jamaica.

The ever-changing face of CIA agent Felix Leiter is played by Rik Von Nutter this time 'round. Leiter is a series regular whose physical appearance ranged widely, depending on the actor chosen for each film. David Hedison ("The Fly") was the only actor who played Leiter twice ("Live and Let Die" and "License to Kill") — but by the time he did it the second time, Roger Moore had been replaced by Timothy Dalton.

So, even though Leiter was played by the same guy in both films, Bond was not!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

First 007 film I ever saw. Good memories.

[Bud Brewster]

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Well now, I must admit that the trailer for Thunderball is far better than the original trailer for Goldfinger, and it actually tempts me to watch it again!

Everything seems a little better than I remembered — the action looks more exciting, the story seems more interesting, and the ladies are more attractive.

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_____________________ Thunderball (1965)


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Eadie]

Uh, Bud, are we half asleep?

it's Thunderball, not Thuderball and it's TEMPTS not temps. Two completely different meanings.

Respectfully,

"Eadie"

[orzel-w]

Yeah, I think it's gonna take two of us to keep this guy in line, Eadie.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Thanks for the colorful comments, Eadie.

But let's be fair, shall we? With more total posts than the nine most active members on the board combined, I've got a much greater chance of making mistakes than anyone else. So, any PM's I get from friendly members who want to quietly let me know that I goofed are greatlt appreciated.

After all, I'm the only one who can silently fix typos in other members' posts and never breath a word of it. You'd be surprised at how often I do that.

Respectfully,

Bud
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

This one's your jurisdiction, Eadie. I do only the initial posts in a thread.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Krel]

I have to admit a fondness for "Thunderball", it was the first Bond movie I saw. I was seven years old, and my brother took me to the Tower Theater to see it.

I saw an interview with S.C. years ago, and he talked about the trouble he had doing the film. He is claustrophobic, and the diving mask triggered it, so it was a rough shoot.

He also has arachnophobia, so bad that he couldn't film the Tarantula scene in "Doctor No". They made a robot from a Tarantula, and he couldn't handle that. The scene showing him and the Tarantula together was an optical effect. Combine that with the air vent scene, the filming of "Doctor No" must have been hell for him.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

Claudine Auger! My very first Bond Girl crush.

[Custer]

Looking good there, yes...

[The Spike]

Sir, I'd respectfully request that you change my assignment to Nassau.

Thunderball is directed by Terence Young and adapted to screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins from a story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming. It stars Sean Connery, Adolfo Celi, Claudine Auger, Rick Van Nutter and Martine Beswick. Music is scored by John Barry and cinematography by Ted Moore.

The fourth outing for James Bond (Connery) sees 007 assigned to the Bahamas to try and thwart SPECTRE's number 2 operative, Emilio Largo (Celi). Largo has hijacked two atomic bombs from NATO and sets about extorting huge ransoms of money. If his terms are not met he will blow up major cities.

It was meant to be the first James Bond film, but Thunderball became part of a long drawn out legal battle between Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming. Eventually an out of court settlement was reached and Thunderball rolled into theatres in 1965. After the colossal success of Goldfinger, and Bond as a pop culture phenomenon, producers Albert Broccoli & Harry Saltzman knew that they had to try and up the ante to keep Bond on top. They were also acutely aware that many imitators were springing up on film and TV. These facts led Bond to go epic, with the producers going for a more is more approach, however, Thunderball is a considerable step down from Goldfinger.

As with many other Bond movies, Thunderball polarises opinions amongst the fans. Some are happy to laud the pure entertainment value on offer, the reliance on hardware and gadgets viewed as an aid to the Bond persona and not a hindrance to his humanistic worth. Technically the film is often exceptional, be it on or under the water, director Young really crafts some Bondian quality. The exotic Bahamas locale is beautifully realised by Ted Moore, Barry's blunderbuss score is one of his best for a Bond movie and Connery has charisma in abundance. The girls, too, are delightful, particularly Auger who positively sizzles with sexuality. Bond's by play with M, Q and Felix Leiter (Nutter very enjoyable and more charismatic than Cec Linder in Goldfinger) is well scripted and performed. While for those who adore the gadgets and daring stunts? Thunderball excels with its assortment of trick vehicles, under water weaponry and aids and radioactive pills! Without doubt the near $6 million budget is all up there on the screen.

Yet for other fans, and this is the category I fall into, it's a film of too many flaws to be considered one of the greats. Whilst it's undeniable that when it hits the high points it excites royally (the extended underwater battle is eye popping brilliance), but there's too much languid passages in the overlong running time. Young himself lamented that he couldn't get the pace right on account of the plot structure. The other major problem for me is Celi as Largo. Visually he's striking, with his white hair and eye patch, he well looks villainous, but physically he's wrong and someone you can't buy into as a man able to not only take on Bond, but to overcome him as well! While the finale lacks a grandness to reward those having sat for over 2 hours with the film. But what do I know? Film made a stunning $141 million at the box office! And the fanaticism that began with Goldfinger reached epic proportions here.

The more is more approach worked for the makers, and it ensured that for the time being Bond was going to stay in this epic, gadget effects strewn groove. Connery wasn't happy, he had voiced his concerns about Bond becoming characterless, while he hated the mania surrounding the films and his role within them. He would return for the next instalment, You Only Live Twice, question was, would it be his last performance as Bond? 7/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Krel]

In the 1950s Ian Fleming wrote "Thunderball" as a movie script. The movie was to star James Mason as Bond, and Burl Ives as the villain. Given Burl Ives reputation, this could be said to be type casting.

When the movie deal fell though, Ian Fleming figured, waste not, want not, and turned the screenplay into a novel. This led to the legal problems that The Spike wrote of.

The carnival parade was staged just for the movie. The locals were more than happy to have an excuse to hold another carnival.

David.

[ralfy]

Oh, the horrors!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbZGN1WQ_Ms

[Gord Green]

The struggle over ownership of the story led to Sean Connery appearing in a "remake" of THUNDERBALL .
The story was adapted as NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN in 1983.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.